Former Robert Mugabe spin doctor Professor Jonathan Moyo says Hopewell Chin’ono, Job Sikhala and Fadzayi Mahere were arrested because the CIOs have a grudge against them for participating in the 31st July demonstrations (#ZimbabweanLivesMatter).
Moyo said, if the issue was for the video as is being alleged, then the police would have looked for the person who took the video and circulated it on social media because he or she is the publisher.
Speaking in an interview with Q Dube on Magamba TV’s Take Down, Moyo said the publisher cant be Hopewell, Fadzai and Job, the publisher is the person who took that video and spread it.
“They are not interested in that person (who took the video and circulated), that should tell you something, secondly the fact that many other people did exactly or worse (commenting on the video) of what the three did but they are not interested in them, that should also tell us something as Zimbabweans
“This is what happens when law and order policing is done by the CIO, counter-intelligence, they are not the police, the constitution does not give them policing power and yet under (Emmerson) Mnangagwa they are at the forefront orchestrating the arrest of people and participating in the arrest of people and when that happens it has nothing to do with free speech it has everything to do with politics.
“Hopewell, Fadzai and Job, were arrested over the 31st July incident and the state has a continuing grudge with them, not the state as such but these CIO people and that is why they are picking on them and the public have a reason to be outraged by this abuse,” he said.
Professor Moyo added that it was disappointing that the Mnangagwa regime is resurrecting laws that were invalidated many years ago and yet it parades itself as a new dispensation.
“This is shameful and quiet revealing and it exposes the lie that we have a new dispensation which is cultured in a culture of human rights and respect of law, no they dont.
“You have a new dispensation which is run by securocrates its not run by politicians and the securocrates dont care about anybody’s rights and that is why they are not coming after you and even though you did that (commenting on the video) you can sleep sound they are not coming after you because you didnt participate in the 31st July demo.
“Hopewell, Fadzie and Job did and we have a vindictive state that is continuing to go after them because they think they are part of a faction in the ruling party which they associate with those events and so they think these guys are being used by the people they are fighting.
“The state has factions and the leading faction in the state or in Zanu PF now which are associated with VP (Constantino) Chiwenga and Mnangagwa are securocratic factions, so these guys these three are the grass that is suffering because they believe they are doing the bidding for somebody else and this tragic and unfortunate and unacceptable.
